Do you ever wonder what would happen if the apocalypse started and the government was out for your family? Would you blindly follow your dad's teaching just because that's all you've know all your life?
Well that's what happens to Jinx and her family. Jinx just happens to be the daughter or a Doomsday preparer so she happens to know exactly what to do. Having no mother with her and her father is on the run the only thing that Jinx and Charile know is what their father taught them all their lives. This just so happens to help them and their step siblings figure out how to get away from the evil government. This novel is very compelling and the reader is able to dive head first into this amazing story. All the character are unique which makes the story flow very well and the readers knows who to trust. The chapter titles are probably my favorite part because it's like Jinx is remembering everything her dad taught her one chapter at a time. Jinx is a very strong character that can empower young female readers and Gus can empower all the young male readers with how strong both of them are. Though the dynamic between Charlie, Jinx and their father are very different it shows that no matter how old you are everything your dad teaches you really sticks!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. Jinx Marshall (love the name) happens to be the daughter of a genius father who heavily prepares her for doomsday. He's what you would call a survialist. Her parents are divorced and her father remarries.

Day Zero is set in a future timeline where politics have divided everyone. One day a bomb goes off (which Jinx's father is being blamed for) and everything he taught her she must now use while on the run.

This was a fast paced book which kept you engaged and invested in the book. All of the characters (including the younger ones) were well developed and appropriately written (Looking at you charming Charles)

I really enjoyed Day Zero, I liked the plot and the characters. The story flowed at a good pace with a lot of action.

Day Zero was an interesting YA novel. I rarely read YA but the description got my attention. It's a survival story but not unrealistic like similar novels.

Jinx's father has been preparing for the worst for years - he even wrote a survival guide about it. But when bombs destroy banks all over the country survival becomes a real thing - especially when her stepfather is being framed for everything. Jinx, her brother, and stepsister are told to go find her father while her mother and stepfather are taken into custody. But things do not go smoothly - Jinx doesn't know who to trust or who is after her and when those she cares for betray her things get even more confusing.
I quite liked this dystopian novel. There were definitely political parallels to current events which didn't bother me too much because the members of the family argued about the 2 sides in a pretty balanced way. I did feel the Kennebunk reference was a bit much. There was also a good deal of swearing, especially near the end, and some violence which skew this more to the YA than for my middle grade readers.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I tried reading this on multiple occasions but nothing pulled me in. Not the characters, not the plot, not even the training Jinx learns that helps her and her family survive. This is not to say that this isn't a good book; it just saying it wasn't my type of book.

A fun introduction to YA, I won’t call this lighthearted, but it’s definitely not heavy handed. The Dr. Doomsday’s Guide to Ultimate Survival was a nice segue into each chapter. The characters were likable and the journey interesting. I recommend this to younger readers (13 and up) who are just getting into YA fiction.

The recently released, Day Zero by Kelly DeVos is a book I signed up to preview on whim. It was pretty close to its release date but it sounded like something I shouldn’t have any trouble flying through – a YA novel with a disintegrating society and a struggle for survival in the face of it. The story proved to be more complicated and deep than that, which was good. However, it was perhaps too complicated and contrived at times and definitely wasn’t as compelling or fun as I’d hoped. I also didn’t realize at the time that it was only the first novel of a duology. Reading only a galley copy, there were also some unfortunate gaps fairly early in the story that made it really difficult to become invested in the characters or story. I think if I’d waited for the actual release and knew going in that it was only the first of two books, I might have enjoyed it more.

Susan, aka Jinx, is a teenager trying to survive a lot of change in a short amount of time. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried pretty quickly giving her and her younger brother, Charles, a stepfather, stepbrother and stepsister. Jinx and her stepsister MacKenna don’t get along and they happen to be the same age and in a lot of the same classes at school. MacKenna and her family take an active interest in politics and support the party that just lost in a close and contested election. But an act of terrorism quickly sows desperation and the new leader enforces martial law. The investigation focuses on Jinx’s stepfather and sends her and her siblings into hiding and searching for her father.

One of my issues with the novel is that it doesn’t spend enough time setting the scene. It is unclear how far into the future so leaping so quickly into the action with the attack of terrorism and doling out elements of the backstory along the way didn’t work for me. It didn’t help that that’s also where a lot of the gaps in my galley copy happened to fall. I believe they were supposed to be images with coding or the computer screens as Jinx communicated with people online, but they were just blank pages and partial sentences here and there. Those kinds of imperfections and gaps are rare in my experience reading galley copies but they do happen. I also definitely don’t care enough to try and get my hands on a final copy to fill in those gaps. After the halfway point of the novel, they stopped mattering anyway.

There were too many places where events felt forcibly stretched. Because of the nature of the story, there can’t really be a lot of time jumps, but at the same time, I don’t think the story was served by showing so much of the minute-by-minute happenings. There really just wasn’t enough world building and there was way more action than was necessary. The story felt unbalanced in other ways too. There was time put into building relationships with several characters so that certain events down the road will carry an emotional impact, but the time spent with them is too much and too early. Jinx’s brother, for instance. So much time is spent early in the novel establishing him and focusing on his needs as a diabetic and Jinx’s protective relationship with him. But partway through the novel he effectively disappears. His character is physically present during a lot of what happens, but he fades so far into the background, it’s easy to forget he’s there at all.

Even as the big climax unfolds entirely as expected, the novel continued to drag along after it for a while as it finished setting things up for the next book. It got to a point where I wondered if it would ever wrap itself up. I definitely won’t be bothering with book two. There is a lot of promise in the premise and the politics of the world DeVos created, but there isn’t enough of that world tangibly there to latch on to for me to care about what happens to it (and even if I did care about the individual characters, given the predictability of how this novel played out, I’m pretty comfortable in guessing where each will end up by the end of book two; I don’t feel compelled to find out the specifics).

This is an amazing dystopian story!

The story was fast paced and thrilling. The action started right away, with a terrorist attack on multiple banks following an election in the United States in the future.

Unlike other dystopian books, this book doesn’t seem like it’s set too far in the future. The terrorist attack that sparks the problems in Jinx’s life are very realistic. The political world with two warring parties is also familiar in today’s world. This made the story much more tense, knowing that it is a real possibility for the future.

I thought there would be more coding and technical references to the story. The entire event started with a coded program, but I thought there would be more of Jinx playing the online game she liked. Hopefully that will come in the next book.

I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the next one!

Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The beginning of this book is so compelling. There is an election, things go wrong, there's a bombing, Jinx and her brother and stepsister are on the run. They have to adhere to the plan, the one Jinx's father drilled her on as her is the well-known Dr. Doomsday and was prepped for these scenarios. But something is not right. Jinx's stepfather is accused of being behind the bombing and everything unfolds from there.

There's a lot of action in the middle, with lots of running and figuring out who to trust. There's some politics, although it's obvious there are references to current events, I wish I understood the internal politics of this world better. There's just so much impact without details.

The twist at the end is great, without it, the book would have made no sense. So, if you're discouraged anywhere in the action, wait for the twist!

This book turned out to be exactly what I was in the mood for.
First and foremost, the pacing was great. I like books where something I find intriguing is happening throughout them, and Day Zero was that to me. The twists were exceptionally fun, they kept the plot unpredictable and me on the edge of my seat.
There was something about the writing too, it sucked me in and kept my attention from the start all through the end. It felt dynamic, so did the characters that were masterfully developed.
Day Zero is one of my favorites that I've read this year, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Are you ready for one last thrill before 2020?



Be prepared for Day Zero.



Our protagonist, Susan "Jinx" Marshall is a seventeen-year-old gamer girl who has perfected the art of doomsday preparations because of her father, the genius mind behind Dr. Doomsday's Guide to Ultimate Survival. While this compulsive training engrained various survival methods and practices to Jinx and her younger brother Charles, it caused a strain between her father and mother until it broke them apart.



Now with a new school and new family, which includes a stepfather, stepsister MacKenna, and stepbrother Toby, Jinx was doing her best to keep a low profile despite the controversy surrounding her father's legacy.



That is until the day that she is caught in an explosion with Charles and MacKenna. Soon, Jinx realizes that this explosion was one of the many that occurred throughout the country and her father is accountable for it all. As a plot of political turmoil, terror, and social unrest rise, Jinx must try to make sense of the computer code she suspects is the cause of the Opposition's uprising and protect her family from the rising violence in the world



The vivid action sequences and socio-political tension was absolutely thrilling and author Kelly Devos writes an engaging parallelism to our current society. To me, this read like George Orwell's 1984 in the context of how it creates a futuristic portrayal of a very plausible future.



Prepare yourself readers. Day Zero is only the beginning.

Day Zero is the first novel in a Duology of the same name by Kelly deVos. What do you do, when the end of the world as you know it is looming on the horizon? That’s a question that Jinx Marshall is going to have to answer. Thankfully, being the daughter of a doomsday prepper has left her fairly well prepared for it. Though she never could have prepared for the cause of the downfall.
Day Zero is a novel made up of many elements. It’s an apocalyptic novel (not quite post – not yet, at any rate). It’s a discussion on politics and ethics. It’s a survival novel, with a healthy dose of hacking and tech speak. There’s family drama and romance, and basically everything you can think of in here.
Jinx was never really an ordinary girl. You’d have to live an ordinary life for that. She grew up running practice drills for any and all major events that could happen. Not exactly normal – but it’s going to come in use now. In her downtime, Jinx likes to code and relax online, usually by gaming with her friends. She’s paranoid, quick, and unafraid to follow through on her decisions. Oh, and she earned her nickname thanks to all the bad things that seem to happen around her.

“It’s not a raid without cheese puffs and Extra Jolt strawberry soda.”

Day Zero was a fast-paced novel, packed to the brim with details and explanations that made the entire plot feel real. Perhaps too real, given the circumstances. Jinx’s quest for answers and resolution was fascinating; resulting in a mad dash from one event to the next.
There was a lot to enjoy about Day Zero. For one thing, I love how many different elements were woven into this piece (see above). It’s not every day you get to see a novel like that, so I always make a point of appreciating it when it happens.
Another part I loved about this novel was how it made you think. There are several different moments of political discourse laid out onto the table here. It was food for thought, especially as Kelly deVos played Devil’s Advocate through her characters – which in itself was fascinating.
The pacing was exceptionally done as well. There was a lot to fit into this book (obviously), and yet it never really felt like it was dragging. Sometimes it did seem like Jinx and her family were being thrown all over the map, but in a good way. After all, they were on a run for their lives.
Speaking of Jinx, I really enjoyed her character. I wasn’t sure about her at first, since she seemed to be so closed off from the rest of the world. But the more I got to see of her, the more I became invested in her story (and thus her survival). She’s quick-witted, driven, and stubborn as a mule. But it’s perfect for this story.
The final element I loved about this novel had to be the conclusion. Don’t worry: I’m not about to spoil it on you. But I will say that I feel like this ending perfectly fit the tale being told. Lately, it seems like I’ve come up against so many novels with a rushed ending that didn’t fit the intrigue of the introduction. That is not the day for Day Zero. This was the ending us readers deserved, and I couldn’t be happier about that fact.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the second novel in this duology brings with it. It will be interesting to see how Jinx and her crew resolve this whole mess – because you just know that there’s no way they’re staying out of it.

Jinx is a not-so-typical teenager who just wants to be normal. Trained in survivalism by her doomsday expert/computer genius father, Jinx has been prepared for Doomsday her entire life. But, she’s still not prepared for the day it finally comes – and her step-father’s the one being blamed! Now on the run with danger nipping at their heels, it’s up to Jinx, relying on pure survivalist instinct, to get her little siblings to safety. Along the way, they have many almost-treacherous, very-stressful near misses that had me standing up and yelling out loud at the book several times. 😆

This story is one of scary political unrest, eerily reminiscent of our current, real-world political climate. It’s an aspect I actually loved because the fact that it could all happen IRL made things feel that much more unsettling.

The action started almost right away in Day Zero, and I really appreciated that we just jumped right into things. It left me breathless and trying to find my balance, much like Jinx, Charles, and MacKenna as they flee for their lives. I was literally only ever on the edge of my seat with this book. There was no time to relax! The non-stop action made this read a speedy one.

Jinx is a brilliant badass and I really loved her character. Her dad’s drills really paid off, and this girl is basically a bona fide action star. I loved the dynamics between her and little Charles. I also loved her character arc, as well as MacKenna’s. These girls are pushed to their very limits and step up hard core every time.

There were hints of romance throughout Day Zero, with the promise of maybe becoming something more later. I’m usually big on even the smallest aspect of romance, but it was the adventure in this story that really kept my interest.

Day Zero’s an absolute cyclone of a novel that will leave you frazzled and thrilled at the end, eager for the sequel. I know I can’t wait to see what happens next!!


**I was provided an eARC copy of this book by Inkyard Press and Netgalley (thank-you!). All opinions expressed are voluntary and my own.**

𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭 𝓪𝓼 𝔀𝓮 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓯𝓲𝓷𝓮!

Kelly de Vos has written a fast paced, action packed, compelling dystopian thriller. It is sometime in the future and Susan better known as Jinx is walking home from school with her siblings, Charles and Makenna. When they stop at a local market to pick up some snacks on the way home all heck breaks loose. The adjacent imposing Bank building is blowing up and the kids are in the path of the destruction. Fortunately Jinx was raised by a doomsday survivalist, so she knows just what to do. What follows is a thrilling game of cat and mouse filled with action, suspense, secrets, and lies. The story is tense and riveting with some political overtones. The book was definitely a little far-fetched at some points, but this did not bother me in the least. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweating, I was all in!

A book like this with teenagers saving the world can go terribly wrong,, but fortunately this book was an exceptional gem. The main reason for this I think was the characters, they were also well developed and authentic. Jinx was a typical teenager with all the insecurities and angst that go along with it. She just knew how to hack a computer, handle a gun, and survive on next to nothing. Makenna her stepsister was her perfect counterbalance, I thought these two had such a realistic typical relationship. Little brother Charles stole the show, he was so adorable and his love of plants was endearing. I appreciate it that the adults were involved in the story, but very rarely overshadowed the teens. The story ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but nothing too major. However I am definitely eagerly awaiting the next book in this duology!

This book in emojis 💥 🎒 💾 💉 🏜

*** Big thanks to Ink Yard Press for my copy of this book ***

Many thanks to Inkyard Press and HarperCollins for having me on this blog tour for Day Zero!
I haven’t read a solid apocalypse thriller in a while and I’m so glad that I was given the chance to pick this one up!
Day Zero follows Jinx Marshall, a sixteen-year-old who is still learning how to live in a newly blended family. All she really wants is for things to finally feel normal. She grew up being taught how to survive the end of the world… which comes in handy because her, her brother, and her stepsister are literally caught at the start of the end of the world. While in a convenience store, the bank next door explodes and throws everything into chaos. Jinx manages to get the three of them home, but then her stepdad is suspected of being the person behind the bombing. After her stepdad is taken into custody, it is up to Jinx to get herself, MacKenna, and Charles to Mexico to meet up with her dad. But, a detour to pick up her stepbrother Toby from college creates its own challenges. What comes after is so many twists and turns that you might expect for the end of the world, but you’ll never see them coming.
I really liked this book. It was a solid apocalypse book. I’ve always like reading “end of the world” type stuff, but this book really puts its characters through the wringer.
Jinx as the main character was super relatable. She just wanted to keep her family safe and every choice she made, regardless of whether it was following a survival drill, was one that she thought was right. The change of relationships between her and her stepsister was really interesting. At the beginning of the book, she thought MacKenna was a snob and a jerk. As the book progressed, I think she truly began to understand that the whole blended family thing was new to MacKenna as well… they were both trying to process and Jinx wasn’t giving MacKenna the benefit of the doubt. I really liked how they ended up becoming some semblance of a team, especially to help out Charles (who has diabetes and needs medication to keep his sugar level).
Everything in this book from start to finish was a RIDE. OH. AND THAT ENDING. You’re not prepared. I was not prepared. I read it… and I’m still not prepared.
Kelly deVos with Day Zero has created something that you’ll want more of. I’m incredibly sad that I can’t have the next one in my hands right away. Day Zero was a refreshing take on the end of the world and I can’t wait to see where the world in this duology goes next.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley, Harlequin Presents, and Inkyard Press for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

This technically should have been my second DeVos book but I still haven’t gotten to my Fat Girl on a Plane ARC (oops) so this is going to be my first book. And honestly, I’m not disappointed with it. I like the snark that I got from Jinx and I could totally feel where she’s coming from on the personal side of things.

I guess I could be a little bit more specific on that, oops.

We first meet Jinx at high school, where her stepsister is in her history class and her mother is the teacher. Clearly this is some time in the future, but things haven’t been okay because while their technology seems advanced, it’s not working at 100% capacity. There’s also been really major budget cuts that even the high school population seems to be negatively affected by it. To the point that I’m actually really surprised by it.

But not even just that. Apparently Jinx’s dad – her biological dad – is some sort of conspiracy theorist that was able to bring the country to its knees by creating a code that just messed up everything. He didn’t do it to be malicious, but to show that that technology could be easily hacked and affected, and that everyone needs to be ready for the end of the world. Since he wrote his survival manual and published it though, the world kept going on… business as usual.

But he was right. Things were going to end as we knew it, and I don’t think anyone was as prepared as they should have been.

The synopsis for this novel said that fans of The 5th Wave would like this novel. I personally only read the first book (The 5th Wave) and I loved it. So, I guess they were on the nose with that. I did really like this novel, and I was pretty proud of Jinx for remembering what her father taught her, even if she didn’t want to think about how that period in her life was what led to her family’s end. It may have been etched in her brain with all the drills and practice runs that they did, but for her to actually execute them was impressive to me. I’m so curious about how this duology will end, and I’m glad that I finally got to read a DeVos book.

The daughter of a survivalist is tough. Despite her somewhat-normal life as the typical teenager, she has to deal with the repercussions of her father’s work. For years, she’s been on the brink of survival training and preparing for the doomsday to show up.

But then tragic circumstances have them on the run, and the survival skills come into play.

Overall, it was an interesting adventure. There are tons of twists that I never would have seen coming creating a thrilling ride.

There are more politics in this one than I normally like to read, but I think it was essential for the story. I ended up giving this one 3 out of 5 stars.

If you’re a fan of survival, politics, and suspense, you will want to check this one out!

3.5 stars.

Susan ‘Jinx’ Marshall is your average seventeen year old girl who is addicted to junk food and just wants to play her beloved video game rather than focus on school work. Jinx is the daughter of Dr. Maxwell Marshall who is a famous computer genius and self-proclaimed doomsday expert. Much of Jinx’s childhood consisted of constantly running survival drills in preparation for catastrophe. Jinx’s mom finally had enough of the paranoia, so she remarried and took Jinx and her younger brother Charles with her.

Following a pretty typical school day, Jinx, her stepsister MacKenna, and Charles make a pitstop at the local convenience mart on their way home. That is when life as they know it is completely turned upside down. Now Jinx and Charles are forced to rely upon the survival skills that they were taught if they are going to live through the political turmoil, bombings, and the infamous Mr. Tork who is hellbent on capturing Jinx.

I haven’t read a post-apocalyptic story in quite some time, and this one starts off with a bang (quite literally). The beginning of the story is nonstop action as Jinx, MacKenna, and Charles are running for their lives. Everytime they thought they were one step ahead, Tonks is right there behind them to shake things up. This guy reminded me of something out of Judge Dredd or Terminator. He just doesn’t let up.

The politics in this book were a bit confusing to follow along with at first because it isn’t really outlined who did what and why. There are two opposing forces, and you really aren’t sure which side is responsible for all of the unrest and turmoil.

When it comes to characters, I really enjoyed both Jinx and Charles. At only seventeen, Jinx constantly steps up in order to make sure that her brother is safe and protected. Charles suffers from type I diabetes, and no matter what, Jinx is constantly checking on his health and well being so that he doesn’t suffer from an episode. If the end of the world was upon me, I don’t know that I could be as cool, calm, and collected as her in order to survive, but I also wasn’t raised by a dad who constantly made me run survival drills.

Overall, if you love a good post-apocalyptic survival adventure then definitely check this one out!

Thank you to the Harlequin Publicity Team and Inkyard Press for my tour invite and providing an eARC for review. This did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.

While some of the technology talk and coding went way over my head, the quirky characters, their relationships to each other, and their sense of urgency to save the world was definitely compelling.

Jinx (whose actual name is Susan) is a no-nonsense girl who would rather be online than interacting with real people. She cares nothing for politics. Her stepsister, MacKenna, is a girly-girl and high-school journalist who wants to write about everything, but especially people and politics. They both care about their little brother Charles. They want to keep him safe, and that includes monitoring his diet and diabetes. As they attempt to flee the country (eventually with brother Toby as well), they are frequently at odds about what, when, and where is best for them all.

The relationships between these very different characters defined a lot about how they dealt with their journey. Eventually meeting up with several of the adults in their lives only complicated things more. It’s an interesting story, with so much more still to be told.

I enjoyed reading Day Zero. I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars and will watch for the follow-up, Day One, to find out what happens next!